The Surrender of Granada

La rendición de Granada (English:The Surrender of Granada) is a work by the Spanish painter Francisco Pradilla Ortiz completed in 1882, which is located in the Conference Room or Salón de los Pasos Perdidos of the Spanish Senate Palace.

[1] Pradilla was commissioned by the Senate to produce this work following the success of his painting Doña Joanna the Mad, which had won medals of honor at both the National Exhibition of Fine Arts of 1878 and the Spanish section of the Universal Exposition in Paris that same year.

[2] It was commissioned to reproduce the capture of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs at the end of the Reconquista, an event that was to be seen as a "representation of Spanish unity" and "a starting point for the great deeds carried out by our grandparents under those glorious sovereigns", according to the indications of the then president of the institution, Marquis Manuel García Barzanallana.

[3] The canvas was to be installed in the Senate Conference Room, which was planned to be decorated with paintings and statues of prominent figures in Spanish history.

[2] However, it was one of Pradilla's greatest professional successes and its wide public acclaim brought him fame beyond the borders of Spain.

[1][4] After the painting was completed Alfonso XII awarded Pradilla the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic and the Senate paid the painter 50,000 pesetas, double the amount initially agreed upon.

Characters depicted in the painting.